Desmond Heeley began his career in the theater as an apprentice in the
workshops of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon,
England. His practical aptitude for costumes, properties, and painting
was noticed by Peter Brook, who commissioned Heeley to design the costumes
for a production of The Lark by Anouilh, in London. Later, as Peter
Brook's assistant at Stratford-upon-Avon, Heeley designed the costumes
and properties for the now legendary production of Titus Andronicus
with Sir Laurence Olivier.

From this point on, his work was to be seen in the theater, the opera,
and the ballet: at the onset, the Ballet Rambert, then with John Cranko
and Kenneth MacMillan ballets at Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden, including
Benjamin Britten's only full-length ballet, Prince of the Pagodas.
Continuing with Cranko, he designed for London's West End, including a
musical in conjunction with Lord Snowdon, employing advanced photographic
techniques.

His work at the Old Vic Theatre with artistic director Michael Benthall
ranged from Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde. On the operatic scene, he designed
I Puritani for Joan Sutherland at Glyndbourne, and La Traviata
and Iolanthe for the Sadler's Wells Opera. He designed for the Marquis
de Cuevas Ballet in Paris, and for the Opera at La Scala in Milan.

In London, he designed the original production of several new plays by
some of the leading British writers, Joe Orton's Loot, Gentle
Jack by Robert Bolt -- starring Dame Edith Evans, Carving a Stone
by Graham Greene -- starring Sir Ralph Richardson, and In Praise of
Love, directed by John Dexter.
A long association with artistic director Michael Langham began with a
production of Hamlet in Stratford-upon-Avon. A year later, he did
another Hamlet at another Stratford -- this time in Ontario, Canada,
starring Christopher Plummer. He designed some eighteen productions in
Ontario, finding time in between to do Swan Lake for the National
Ballet of Canada with Erik Bruhn, and later, for the same company, Giselle,
as well as the opera Cosi Fan Tutte. When Langham left the Festival
to be artistic director of the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Heeley
followed. Among the many productions he worked on there, notable successes
were Oedipus, the King and Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker.

Sir Laurence Olivier invited him to join forces with Sean Kenny to design
the opening production of the newly formed National Theatre at the Old
Vic in London in 1967. Again the play was Hamlet, and this time
the star was Peter O'Toole.

Later at Sir Laurence's invitation, he designed the original production
of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. He then
re-created the production on Broadway and won two Tony Awards for the
sets and costumes.

Sir Rudolph Bing commissioned him to design Norma for Joan Sutherland
at the Metropolitan Opera. Following this, he designed Pelleas and
Melisande for the Met. In the 1970s Mr. Heeley also designed a highly
successful three-act version of The Merry Widow, directed by Sir
Robert Helpmann in Australia, which was presented on Broadway and then
in London's West End, starring Dame Margot Fonteyn. He also designed the
sets and costumes for the Stuttgart Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty.

For John Dexter, Mr. Heeley designed the Metropolitan Opera's production
of Don Pasquale starring Beverly Sills. He has designed Theme
and Variations (1978) for American Ballet Theatre; Titus Andronicus
at the Stratford Festival in Canada; Teible and Her Demon for
the Guthrie Theatre; and on Broadway, the revival of Camelot starring
Richard Burton.

Mr. Heeley designed the New York City Opera's productions of Brigadoon
and South Pacific, the London Festival Ballet's (now English National
Ballet) production of Coppélia, the Vienna State Opera's
Maria Stuarda, and The Merry Widow for the National Ballet
of Canada.

Over the past ten years, Houston Ballet has emerged as Mr. Heeley's artistic
home in America. The company has four works by Mr. Heeley in its repertoire:
The Nutcracker (1987), Solitaire (1991), The Sleeping
Beauty (1990), and Coppélia (1992). Additionally, in
September, 1995, Houston Ballet presented Mr. Heeley's production of The
Merry Widow from the National Ballet of Canada.

Mr. Heeley has received numerous awards throughout his distinguished career.
In 1994, he became the first person to receive the Theater Development
Fund's Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award. The Allan Jones Memorial
Award followed in 1995, and in March, 1997, he was the recipient of the
prestigious Institute for Theater Technology Award in recognition of his
lifetime contribution to the performing arts.

In 1997, Mr. Heeley celebrated fifty years of working in the theater.
From June 3- November 9, 1997, the Stratford Festival in Ontario mounted
a massive retrospective exhibition featuring sets, designs, costumes,
and properties that chronicled Mr. Heeley's half century of achievement.
Recent projects Mr. Heeley has designed at the Stratford Festival
include Camelot in 1997, Amadeus, and Measure For
Measure.